"I looked out over the new people of the earth. I knew I did not belong to them; I knew that, like the vampires, I was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to me even in my pain......I am legend."
I Am Legend
Richard Matheson
Poster for the 2007 film, I Am Legend.
The last man on earth, Robert Neville, is attempting to survive in a world that is now dominated by vampiric creatures. He is the only one to have survived the plague that is now living within Earth's other inhabitants. How long can the only man immune to this plague survive?
I Am Legend was originally written in 1954 by Richard Matheson. It was later rewritten in 1995. The story has been made into three movies, The Last Man On Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007).
Summary
Robert Neville spends most of his days fixing his house and preparing for another night of constant attack. He has to fix the boards covering his windows. Replace anything thats been broken on the hothouse. He also must pick garlic and make more stakes. Neville is always in need of more stakes. He also spends his days hunting down the vampires as they sleep. He knows that during the day they're all in a coma and that is the time when he can kill them without troubles. He must also make sure he is within his house before the sun goes down...before they come...
These infected people act in strange ways. They have all of the characteristics of classic vampires in the old stories. They come out at night, they despise garlic, they fear the cross, and can be killed by stakes. Though, they can't turn into bats. The other difference is the way they are and how they become. These vampires have been infected by a plague. This plague seems to infect some by bringing them back from the dead, and others, keeping them alive. Neville is bent on figuring out how this vampirism works.
Throughout the story, during Neville's many drinking periods when he consumes a lot of alcohol, we enter flashbacks. These flashbacks tell us the history behind Robert and his experiences with the vampires. The story talks a lot about Robert's life. His wife, Virginia,
Cover of the novel, I Am Legend.
became infected by the plague. He eventually buried her. Later, she came back and he was forced to put a stake through her heart.
Neville takes frequent trips out to where he finally placed Virginia's body. He takes time on these trips to lose himself in thought. On one of these trips, he arrives at the place where he laid his wife to rest. He checked his watch, it was 3:00 in the afternoon, which left him plenty of time. At this point, he finds one of the vampires around his wifes coffin. Neville angrily threw the vampire into the sunlight. The vampire then decays at an alarming rate, striking Neville as an important piece of information. After spending a few hours with Viriginia, Robert decides to go home and complete a couple chores before the sun was going to go down. Before leaving, he checked his watch. 3:00, plenty of time......he looked again.....his watch had stopped.
Neville quickly rushed home, only to find a group of vampires crowding around on his front lawn, getting ready for another attack on the house. After a long fight and a close encounter with his old friend, Ben Courtman, he finally gets into his house and is safe for another night.
After the encounter with the vampire in the sunlight, Neville is inspired to start researching the vampires. He started with the garlic, but he had no results. He could not figure out why the vampires were scared of the garlic. He experimented with the cross. Again, no result.
He then decided to begin more specific research. He went and gathered books on any subject that might have dealt with the vampires. He read up on bacteria, and began making connections. He went out and found a microscope so he could examine the vampires' blood. Through the microscope, he found that the blood was filled with a bacillus, a cylindrical bacteria. Neville finds that this certain bacillus thrives on fresh blood. When it doesn't receive enough blood, it turns into a spore and moves to a new host. The bacteria lives as a symbiote inside the vampire. The vampire feeds on fresh blood and, in turn, the bacteria keeps the vampire alive, even when there is no heart beat.
Robert Neville (Will Smith) and a vampire in the 2007 production of I Am Legend.
Then, one day, Neville's life turned around. When he walked outside, he spotted a dog on the lawn, in the daylight. He was so overly excited to see something that wasn't a vampire, that he accidentally scared it away. He attempted to find the dog, but he didn't succeed. So, he decided to place some food and milk on the front porch in case the dog came back. It did. Everyday, Neville put food out for the dog and waited for it to come back. One day, Neville sat on the porch as the dog ate. Everytime the dog came back, he sat closer to the dog. Then, the dog didn't come. The dog didn't come back for a couple days, and when it did, its eyes were glazed and it looked sick. A couple more days went by and the dog didn't show up as much as it had. On a day when it looked extremely sick, Neville grabbed it and took it inside. After the dog had calmed, Neville decided to try and cure the only possible companion he'd had for the past three years. About a week later, the dog died.
One day, Neville is out hunting for his old friend, Ben Courtman. In his mind, Courtman is his problem, and is his responsibility. Therefore, Neville must be the one to kill him. As he is taking a break, he spots a woman out in a field. A woman in the daylight. He runs to her. When she sees him, she begins to run away.He screams to her, but she continues to run. He catches up to her and knocks her to the ground. He knows that she can't be a vampire, because she's alive in the sunlight and she hasn't decomposed yet. He drags her back to his house, much to her displeasure. Her name is Ruth. They eventually become good friends, but he becomes suspicious of her. Neville tells her all about his research and she agrees to let him check her blood. He puts her blood under the microscope and the moment he sees the bacteria in her blood, she hits him on the head with a hamm
Neville and his dog in I Am Legend.
er.
Neville wakes up to find Ruth gone and a note left on his workbench. The note explains that Ruth is a part of a new species. A species of vampire that lives at peace with the bacteria, unlike the normal vampires. This new species has gathered and they are destroying those who are truly dead and starting a new society. She was sent by the new society to spy on Neville, who had been killing some of their kind, not knowing the difference between them and the other vampires. In the note, Ruth tells Neville to run to the mountains, for he is being hunted by the new society.
Neville decides not to run, instead he is going to surrender to these "living vampires". The only problem is, they don't give him the chance to surrender. They storm the house instead. Neville shoots at a few of them and they beat him down. He had been captured.
In the end, it is decided that he is to be executed in front of the new race of "humans". Ruth comes into his room before his execution and gives him pills so he can kill himself in a painless way. Neville stands at the window and gazes upon the new race that will dominate earth. He then downs the pills.
In the end, he realizes that he is the last of his kind. He is the final human on the planet. He is legend.
Do I Recommend This Book?
Yes, I would recommend this book. This book is good for anyone who enjoys science fiction novels or people who like stories about grim futures. Though, I do not recommend it if you don't like depressing endings. This is one of those that doesn't leave the reader on a happy note, which I actually think adds to the story. It wasn't exactly difficult to read, though some parts were fairly hard. It is one of those books that you won't want to put down until you finish it. Then, once you are done, you crave more of it.
If you want to read this book and see the 1007 production of it, I recommend both of them. The book was amazing and so was the movie, but they were fairly different. I'd recommend you see the movie first, otherwise you will be very dissappointed by it if you read the book first. I saw the movie before I read the book, therefore I wasn't dissappointed by either.
"I looked out over the new people of the earth. I knew I did not belong to them; I knew that, like the vampires, I was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to me even in my pain......I am legend."
I Am Legend
Richard MathesonThe last man on earth, Robert Neville, is attempting to survive in a world that is now dominated by vampiric creatures. He is the only one to have survived the plague that is now living within Earth's other inhabitants. How long can the only man immune to this plague survive?
I Am Legend was originally written in 1954 by Richard Matheson. It was later rewritten in 1995. The story has been made into three movies, The Last Man On Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007).
Summary
Robert Neville spends most of his days fixing his house and preparing for another night of constant attack. He has to fix the boards covering his windows. Replace anything thats been broken on the hothouse. He also must pick garlic and make more stakes. Neville is always in need of more stakes. He also spends his days hunting down the vampires as they sleep. He knows that during the day they're all in a coma and that is the time when he can kill them without troubles. He must also make sure he is within his house before the sun goes down...before they come...These infected people act in strange ways. They have all of the characteristics of classic vampires in the old stories. They come out at night, they despise garlic, they fear the cross, and can be killed by stakes. Though, they can't turn into bats. The other difference is the way they are and how they become. These vampires have been infected by a plague. This plague seems to infect some by bringing them back from the dead, and others, keeping them alive. Neville is bent on figuring out how this vampirism works.
Throughout the story, during Neville's many drinking periods when he consumes a lot of alcohol, we enter flashbacks. These flashbacks tell us the history behind Robert and his experiences with the vampires. The story talks a lot about Robert's life. His wife, Virginia,
Neville takes frequent trips out to where he finally placed Virginia's body. He takes time on these trips to lose himself in thought. On one of these trips, he arrives at the place where he laid his wife to rest. He checked his watch, it was 3:00 in the afternoon, which left him plenty of time. At this point, he finds one of the vampires around his wifes coffin. Neville angrily threw the vampire into the sunlight. The vampire then decays at an alarming rate, striking Neville as an important piece of information. After spending a few hours with Viriginia, Robert decides to go home and complete a couple chores before the sun was going to go down. Before leaving, he checked his watch. 3:00, plenty of time......he looked again.....his watch had stopped.
Neville quickly rushed home, only to find a group of vampires crowding around on his front lawn, getting ready for another attack on the house. After a long fight and a close encounter with his old friend, Ben Courtman, he finally gets into his house and is safe for another night.
After the encounter with the vampire in the sunlight, Neville is inspired to start researching the vampires. He started with the garlic, but he had no results. He could not figure out why the vampires were scared of the garlic. He experimented with the cross. Again, no result.
He then decided to begin more specific research. He went and gathered books on any subject that might have dealt with the vampires. He read up on bacteria, and began making connections. He went out and found a microscope so he could examine the vampires' blood. Through the microscope, he found that the blood was filled with a bacillus, a cylindrical bacteria. Neville finds that this certain bacillus thrives on fresh blood. When it doesn't receive enough blood, it turns into a spore and moves to a new host. The bacteria lives as a symbiote inside the vampire. The vampire feeds on fresh blood and, in turn, the bacteria keeps the vampire alive, even when there is no heart beat.
Then, one day, Neville's life turned around. When he walked outside, he spotted a dog on the lawn, in the daylight. He was so overly excited to see something that wasn't a vampire, that he accidentally scared it away. He attempted to find the dog, but he didn't succeed. So, he decided to place some food and milk on the front porch in case the dog came back. It did. Everyday, Neville put food out for the dog and waited for it to come back. One day, Neville sat on the porch as the dog ate. Everytime the dog came back, he sat closer to the dog. Then, the dog didn't come. The dog didn't come back for a couple days, and when it did, its eyes were glazed and it looked sick. A couple more days went by and the dog didn't show up as much as it had. On a day when it looked extremely sick, Neville grabbed it and took it inside. After the dog had calmed, Neville decided to try and cure the only possible companion he'd had for the past three years. About a week later, the dog died.
One day, Neville is out hunting for his old friend, Ben Courtman. In his mind, Courtman is his problem, and is his responsibility. Therefore, Neville must be the one to kill him. As he is taking a break, he spots a woman out in a field. A woman in the daylight. He runs to her. When she sees him, she begins to run away.He screams to her, but she continues to run. He catches up to her and knocks her to the ground. He knows that she can't be a vampire, because she's alive in the sunlight and she hasn't decomposed yet. He drags her back to his house, much to her displeasure. Her name is Ruth. They eventually become good friends, but he becomes suspicious of her. Neville tells her all about his research and she agrees to let him check her blood. He puts her blood under the microscope and the moment he sees the bacteria in her blood, she hits him on the head with a hamm
Neville wakes up to find Ruth gone and a note left on his workbench. The note explains that Ruth is a part of a new species. A species of vampire that lives at peace with the bacteria, unlike the normal vampires. This new species has gathered and they are destroying those who are truly dead and starting a new society. She was sent by the new society to spy on Neville, who had been killing some of their kind, not knowing the difference between them and the other vampires. In the note, Ruth tells Neville to run to the mountains, for he is being hunted by the new society.
Neville decides not to run, instead he is going to surrender to these "living vampires". The only problem is, they don't give him the chance to surrender. They storm the house instead. Neville shoots at a few of them and they beat him down. He had been captured.
In the end, it is decided that he is to be executed in front of the new race of "humans". Ruth comes into his room before his execution and gives him pills so he can kill himself in a painless way. Neville stands at the window and gazes upon the new race that will dominate earth. He then downs the pills.
In the end, he realizes that he is the last of his kind. He is the final human on the planet. He is legend.
Do I Recommend This Book?
Yes, I would recommend this book. This book is good for anyone who enjoys science fiction novels or people who like stories about grim futures. Though, I do not recommend it if you don't like depressing endings. This is one of those that doesn't leave the reader on a happy note, which I actually think adds to the story. It wasn't exactly difficult to read, though some parts were fairly hard. It is one of those books that you won't want to put down until you finish it. Then, once you are done, you crave more of it.If you want to read this book and see the 1007 production of it, I recommend both of them. The book was amazing and so was the movie, but they were fairly different. I'd recommend you see the movie first, otherwise you will be very dissappointed by it if you read the book first. I saw the movie before I read the book, therefore I wasn't dissappointed by either.
Works Cited
~Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. New York: Tor, 1995. January 27, 2008.~"I Am Legend" Wikipedia. January 27, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_legend
~"'I Am Legend' Trailer... and 'I, Robot 2'?" Rotten Tomatoes. January 27, 2007 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/1648928/
~"Boxing Day Film Review: I Am Legend" Telegraph.co.uk. January 27, 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/12/26/bflwill126.xml
~"The Last Man On Earth Is Will Smith" BritFilms.tv. January 27, 2007 http://www.britfilms.tv/index.php?id=2606